Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium, an image generation apparatus, and an image generation method, and particularly to a method for generating an image that is viewed in a binocular stereoscopic view.
Description of the Related Art
Owing to advances in virtual reality (hereinafter, simply “VR”) technology, there are devices that enable binocular stereoscopic content to be viewed, such as head-mounted displays (HMDs) and dome displays. Such viewing devices employ a structure that cuts off visual information from the outside world by covering the field of view of a viewer to enhance immersion. In addition, the binocular stereoscopic content to be presented can also make a viewer feel more immersed by tracking physical movement, such as that of the positron of the head, face, and eyes, or the orientation of the viewer, and changing rendered content in accordance therewith (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2016-192029). Recently, binocular stereoscopic viewing devices are also used in applications such as for gaming and watching movies.
To make the content such as that of games and movies more appealing, it is favorable to change (move or switch) viewpoints to follow story development.
However, in the case of providing such content in a binocular stereoscopic view, for example, it is difficult to express movement of a viewpoint to follow story development, such as moving across a large field, only by means of expression that corresponds to the physical movement of the viewer. That is to say, since a trackable area is limited, and in particular, an area in which physical movement can be made is restricted to a very small area in the case of a viewing device for home use, if such physical movement is used as a reference, the appeal of the binocular stereoscopic content to be provided is also limited.
On the other hand, the binocular stereoscopic content can be made more appealing by moving the viewpoint based on an operational input made by a user, or by forcibly switching the viewpoint to follow story development. However, such a change in the viewpoint that deviates from physical movement may make a viewer feel unpleasant, and may cause so-called VR sickness due to vection or the like.